Yellow Scare is Back: America’s New China Strategy

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by David Ewing, the chair of the San Francisco chapter of the US-China People’s Friendship Association, and Sputnik News analyst Walter Smolarek.

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Vice President Mike Pence gave a high profile, hardline speech at the Hudson Institute today that China is the world's greatest military and economic threat, and he risks inflaming an already delicate relationship. In a speech that set a new tone in bilateral relations and seeks to confront China directly, Pence argued that Beijing is a hostile military power to both the United States and regional countries and that the Chinese government has meddled in US elections and will do so again. Pence also argued that China's strong economy is a threat to global financial stability.

Today the hosts continue Loud & Clear's weekly series "Criminal Injustice," where we talk about the most egregious conduct of our courts and prosecutors and how justice is denied to so many people in this country. Kevin Gosztola, a writer for Shadowproof.com and co-host of the podcast Unauthorized Disclosure, and Alex Friedman, the associate director of the Human Rights Defense Center, join the show.

The US, British, and Dutch governments today accused the Russian military intelligence agency, the GRU, of a program of hacking into a variety of international targets. This includes the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, allegedly to interfere with the investigation into the poisoning of the Skripals-a charge Russia denies. The coordinated allegations come only a day after Defense Secretary James Mattis said that the US would share its offensive cyber capabilities with its NATO partners. Meanwhile, the Justice Department this morning indicted seven Russian military officers for hacking computers associated with international sports doping organizations. Why is the west rolling out this new policy right now? Brian and John speak with Daniel Lazare, a journalist and author of three books-"The Frozen Republic," "The Velvet Coup," and "America's Undeclared War."

Climate experts are gathering in South Korea this week to urge their governments to work harder and faster to halt global warming. Energy and climate ministers from around the world, joined by UN experts, are trying to conceive of a plan to reverse the effects of carbon emissions and are working to devise target dates for major reductions. Fred Magdoff. He is professor emeritus of plant and soil science at the University of Vermont and the co-author of "What Every Environmentalist Needs to Know About Capitalism" and "Creating an Ecological Society: Toward a Revolutionary Transformation" from Monthly Review Press, joins the show.

The FBI investigation that the Senate asked for has wrapped up after 7 days without interviewing many witnesses who volunteered information, or even alleged sexual assault survivor Dr. Christine Blasey Ford or Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh himself. Today, there are actions against his nomination nationwide. Alexander Rubenstein, who we talk to from the rally at the Supreme Court, a Sputnik news analyst and journalist whose work is on twitter @RealAlexRubi, Karla Reyes, managing editor of the magazine Breaking the Chains and an activist for women's rights who is mobilizing people for the rally today at Trump Tower in New York, and Sputnik News analyst Walter Smolarek, join Brian and John.

A federal judge in San Francisco yesterday blocked one of the Trump administration's most important immigration policies, allowing hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants who thought they would soon be deported to remain in the country. The temporary injunction covers immigrants from Sudan, El Salvador, Haiti, and Nicaragua. Juan José Gutiérrez, the executive director of the Full Rights for Immigrants Coalition, joins the show.

Amazon announced this week that it would institute a $15 per hour minimum wage after labor and political pressure on the company. Now, Amazon says that it will end performance bonuses for employees in order to recoup the costs of its wage increases. And all the while, Amazon's founder and primary shareholder, Jeff Bezos, continues to be the richest man in the world, with a net worth of some $165 billion. Brian and John speak with Neal Sweeney, the Vice President of UAW Local 5810, the union representing post-doctoral researchers in the University of California system.

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